1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical connector which is partially installed during the construction of a building, with the installation being completed by simply plugging together two pieces of the connector to give a completed connector assembly. More particularly, it relates to such a connector assembly which requires only a single visit of an installer for prewiring during building construction for installation. Most especially, it relates to such a connector assembly especially adapted for telephone wiring.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of telephone connectors and telephone connector assemblies are known in the prior art. Examples of such connectors and assemblies are shown in the following issued U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,513,261, issued May 19, 1970 to Dal Monte et al.; 3,668,324, issued June 6, 1972 to Firestone; 3,812,451, issued May 21, 1974 to Buglewicz; 4,071,696, issued Jan. 31, 1978 to Anderson; 4,088,384, issued May 9, 1978 to Gumb; 4,178,062, issued Dec. 11, 1979 to Abbo; 4,188,505, issued Feb. 12, 1980 to O'Conner and 4,235,501, issued Nov. 25, 1980 to Ericsson. Included in the above patents are a variety of telephone connectors of the modular type, including such connectors which allow pre-existing telephone wiring to be adapted for use with modular connectors.
Particularly since the utilization of modular telephone connectors has become widespread, it has become common to install telephone wiring within building walls during construction or renovation of a building. Prewiring is accomplished after the walls have been framed, but before Sheetrock has been placed on the building walls. As now practiced, it is necessary for a telephone installer to make at least two visits to a building site during construction, once to do the prewiring, and again to attach modular telephone jacks to the prewiring after the Sheetrock is in place. While the necessity to make two such visits materially increases the cost of installation, there are presently no modular connector assemblies that can be completely installed at the time of prewiring. While this situation has first become noticeable in the case of telephone wiring, similar considerations apply for other types of wiring, such as for data processing system local area networks.